Heartless fraudsters helped trick vulnerable victims out of more than £1m in an elaborate scam while posing as technology giants.
Jose Kuriakose and Bindu Devasia, of Deal, were among a gang who laundered £1,289,000 after trousering their ill-gotten gains from unsuspecting internet users.
Their five-strong group transferred the cash to two India-based brothers behind a network of companies, posing as HP, Microsoft Norton, and Epson to defraud consumers.
The fake firms posted adverts online to lure victims before leading them to believe there were issues with their computers, when, in fact, there were not.
Kuriakose, 50, was placed behind bars for four years and two months while Devasia, 48, who played a lesser role, was handed eight months custody suspended for two years, at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.
The court heard how, between May 2015 and November 2019, victims were told bogus IT problems could be fixed for a fee, and then persuaded into allowing remote access to their computers.
The scammers laundered the cash via an elaborate web of UK-based companies which only existed to receive payments from victims.
‘This group of money launderers had no qualms about enriching themselves off the back of vulnerable and elderly victims - deviously setting up a vast web of companies to hide their criminality...’
Setting themselves up as directors and taking a cut of the illicit cash, the fraudsters then zapped huge sums to their counterparts in India.
One victim paid a total of £4,427.96 to people who, he believed, worked for HP to resolve a supposed issue with his computer.
Someone calling himself Henry, posing as an HP representative, informed him that his computer had been hacked and demanded an immediate payment of £803.98 to fix it. The victim agreed to send a cheque the next day.
Despite not noticing any other issues the victim received numerous calls informing him there were further issues with his computer and he was persuaded to make additional payments.
The cycle of calls persisted for several months until he grew suspicious and made a report to Trading Standards.
Kuriakose and Devasia were disqualified from being company directors for six years.
Devasia was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
In all, the gang was jailed for nine and a half years.
Amanda Grigg, from Cornwall, was given three years imprisonment and disqualified from being a company director for six years.
Gena Harrington, from Handsworth, Birmingham, was dealt 30 months imprisonment and disqualified from being a company director for six years.
Finally, Nicholas Alcide, from Birmingham, got 15 months imprisonment, was suspended for two years, disqualified from being a company director for two years and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
Amanda Grigg, Gena Harrington, Bindu Devasia, Nicholas Alcide and Jose Kuriakose were found guilty of entering into a money laundering arrangement contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
A further defendant will be sentenced later, following a Newton Hearing, and another faces trial separately in 2025.
Lord Michael Bichard, Chair of National Trading Standards, said: “This group of money launderers had no qualms about enriching themselves off the back of vulnerable and elderly victims - deviously setting up a vast web of companies to hide their criminality.
“I commend the National Trading Standards eCrime team for their unwavering efforts to successfully bring prosecutions and disrupt a sophisticated global scam targeting UK consumers.
“I hope that the sentences handed down today will serve as a powerful reminder to all money launderers that they risk prosecution - regardless of how well-coordinated their operations may seem.”
